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A full field of 10 – with a combined 74-214 record and average earnings of $600,000 – is scheduled to run in the $1 million Charles Town Classic this Friday in West Virginia. The Classic is part of an all-stakes Pick 4 with a guaranteed $100,000 pool that shapes up this way:
CT 10th race (9:44 P.M. EST) -- VAHVA, her troubled starting habit as a 2-year-old apparently in the rear-view mirror, is poised for a run at her first stakes victory in the $750,000 G3 Charles Town Oaks. She can make good use of her speed from the rail in her first try sprinting around two turns and under the lights in a full field of 10 sophomore fillies. She ‘offered a mild late kick’ in the stretch when third in the 6-1/2F G3 Victory Ride at Belmont that timed in 1:15-3/5. She chased the late Maple Leaf Mel, a dazzling multiple G3 winner who led at every call in winning her first five starts, and stakes victor Dazzling Blue, who went wire-to-wire in her first three starts by a combined 16 lengths. Hall of Famer John Velazquez gets the call on tonight’s solo play to lead off the Pick 4.
CT 11th race (10:25 P.M. EST) -- The top three finishers in the G-3 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows last month reunite in the featured $1 million G2 Charles Town Classic at the same 1-1/8-mile distance. GIANT GAME found front-end gears as needed in a visually strong victory before he set the pace and tired in the G1 Whitney at Saratoga next out. CALL ME FAST advanced inside on the final turn and made a menacing run abreast of the leader in mid-stretch but flattened out late in the Cornhusker. California-based PERFECT FLIGHT is a must use on the ticket at 15-1 on the morning line. He awakened in an allowance win at Delmar, when he traveled well throughout and burst through a stretch opening, looking more like the horse who was a stakes-winning dirt router and multiple graded-placed turf router as a 3-year-old. DOUBLE CROWN is another longshot to consider after he broke poorly in an allowance victory at Laurel Park, advanced in-hand until the stretch and wore down the pace-controlling favorite.
CT 12th race (10:55 P.M. EST) -- THE SKY IS FALLING will have to defend her title in the $75,000 Sadie Hawkins Stakes from post 10. She made up 9 lengths to win an allowance race that improved her 7F record to 6-for-8, then fired two bullets in the morning works since then. LUCYLOU WHO dueled with a pesky longshot on the backstretch, shook clear on the turn but couldn’t fend off the ‘Sky’ on the stretch-out from 4-1/2F to 7F. MOONLIT SHADOW broke alertly from the outside post against the top pair, backed off a duel to avoid a wide trip and was in contention 4-wide until the stretch. LUCKY BLONDE finished second to Great Spirit (5-7, $170k) in the Sylvia Bishop Memorial Stakes and she could sit an ideal stalking trip while in top form.
CT 13th race (11:25 P.M. EST) -- FANCY CONCHO hasn’t won since he was put up through disqualification in last year’s $75,000 Frank Gall Memorial Stakes. But he held good form and is a live price play off his latest effort. He lost several lengths when squeezed at the start, trailed into the second turn and advanced smartly between rivals to finish a willing third behind odds-on Muad’dib (14-17, $783k), who was entered earlier tonight in the featured Charles Town Classic. SOCIAL CHIC was the disqualified Gall winner last year, but he’s 8/2-2-2 since then with an average 84 Beyer and a :35-3/5 bullet workout last Saturday over the track. In his most recent start, he saved ground after he bumped a rival at the start, ranged into contention for the stretch drive but couldn’t stay with stable-mate and multiple stakes winner Coastal Mission, who is 5-5 at Charles Town. NO CHANGE has eight allowance wins at Charles Town and a stakes win at this distance on his resume, though none from post 10.
Suggested 50-Cent Ticket
CT 10th Race: 1
CT 11th Race: 2, 3, 6, 11
CT 12th Race: 2, 3, 8, 10
CT 13th Race: 3, 5, 10
Cost: $24
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